Sewing-machine



(No Model.)

G. 'A. CLOSE.

. SEWING MACHINE. N5. 577,595. Patented Feb. 23, 1897,

WITNESSES:

Nrrnn Srarns PATENT OFFICE. V

GIDEON A. CLOSE, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

SEWING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,595, dated February23, 1897. Application filed October 26, 1896. Serial No. 610,131. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GIDEoNA. OLosE, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSewing-lilachines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertainst-o make and use thesame.

My invention relates to certain improvements in sewing-machines, butmore particularly has reference to an attachment fora sewing-machineintended for factory use in instances where a plurality of needles areemployed for the purpose of gang-stitchin g.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective showing myimprovement applied for use, it being deemed necessary to show merelythe presser-foot, needle-bar, and bed of the machine, these parts beingbroken away; Fig. 2, a detail side elevation of the presser-foot; Fig.3, a section at the line 00 0c of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a bottom View of thepresserfoot; Fig. 5, a detail perspective of a clothsection, showingparticularly the gathered fullness in the cloth whereby the lines ofstitching are caused to diverge; and Fig. 6, a plan of thecloth-section, showing the effect produced by my improvement institching ordinary strips upon cloth.

Similar numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures ofthe drawings.

Since my improvement has to-do merely with the sewing-machine at thepoin t of stitchin g, I have not shown any parts of the sewingmachineexcept the bed, the presser-foot, and the needle-bar, these parts beingall that are deemed necessary for a clear understandin of my inventionand its application.

Sewing-machines that are used in factories, and are therefore run bypower, are usually equipped with a plurality of needles, which effectparallel lines of stitching, and my invention appertains to machines ofthis description. In many manufactured articles, such as corsets,corset-waists, dress-waists, and other analogous articles ofwearing-apparel, strips or tapes are stitched to the body of thegarment, either for the purpose of affording shirr-pockets or, in theinstance of outside trimmings, for ornamental purposes, which tapes orstrips are sometimes parallel and in some instances slightly divergefrom each other and are parallel possibly only for a short distance;also, in the instance of garments having two thicknesses of material thetapes or strips are sometimes omitted and the stitches taken in such amanner as to leave the shirr-pockets between the two thicknesses, and,in fact, there are very many instances in which a gang-needlesewing-machine is employed where lines of stitching diverge at times.

In all instances the parallel stitching has been readily effected by theuse of the gangneedles, but lines of stitching which diverge must eachbe taken separately and at different times, and it is for the purpose ofobviating this necessity last referred to that I have contrived thedevice which forms the subjectmatter of this present application, adescription of which I will now give.

1 is the presser-foot bar, 2 the presser-foot carried by said bar, and 3are strip-guides carried by the presser-foot at its inner edge, theseguides leading down beneath the. presser-foot and curving upwardly toafford a ready ingress to the strips, which latter are generally fedfrom spools or rolls supported above the machine. In Fig. 1 thesestrips, which I will denote by the numeral 4, are shown in dotted lines.Supported by this presser-foot and extending from the front to the rearthereof is a vertically-disposed pocket 5, having a depth of half aninch, more or less, from the top to the bottom and provided with abell-m0uth 6. This pocket is preferably made from thin sheet metal andreally divides the presser-foot at a point midway between the sidesthereof, the small holes 7 8 for the needles extending through saidpresser-foot on opposite sides of this pocket, while the bottom of thelatter is flush with the bottom of the presser-foot.

is the needlebar, and 10 theneedle-head carried thereby, within whichlatter are secured the two gangs of needles 11 12, which latterrespectively operate through the needle-holes 7 8 in the presser-foot.In order to a point between the two gangs of needles and immediatelyabove the pocket 5, so that the latter cannot obstruct the vertical playof this head.

Presupposing a cloth-section to be lying upon the bed of the machinebeneath the presser-foot and the needles to be in operation, it will beclear that these two gangs of needles will effect two series ofstitches,which series are parallel, it of course being understood thatthe cloth is to lie fiat upon the table. Now during the operation of theneedles the operator places his or her hands upon the cloth'section onopposite sides of the presser-foot, and by moving the hands toward eachother forms the gathers or full ness in the cloth at the mouth of thepocket which fullness extends up into the pocket, and as the cloth isfed along the amount of such fullness will of course be controlled bythe operator. The result of this gathering of the cloth is to widen thedistance between the two series of stitches at the point where thegathering takes place, and since sewingmachine operators in factoriesare exceedingly expert this gathering may be calculated and effectedwith great nicety, so that the two series of stitches will be caused tofollow any desired direction.

My invention is particularly useful and of great value in themanufacture of corsets, where the shape of the latter is such that thestrips must sometimes be parallel and then diverge with exceedingirregularity. I have, however, provided a device to assist operators inthrowing up the fullness in the cloth, which device comprises a clamp14, which is attached to the bed of the machine, and a spring-tongue 15,which is carried by such clamp and extends horizontally toward thepresser-foot. The goods are placed over this tongue and beneath thepresser foot of course, and when the two series of stitches are to beparallel the operator simply depresses this tongue, but when thefullness is to be thrown up into the mouth of the pocket the operatorallows the tongue to rise, either suddenly or by degrees, according tothe degree of the divergence required in the two series of stitching.Although this springtongue 15 is unquestionably a very practical andserviceable device, and although very many similar contrivances could bedevised,

either operating upwardly through the bed from below or mounted on topof the bed for the purpose of throwing up this fullness in the cloth,nevertheless such devices are not absolutely necessary, since expertoperators can get along without them, and therefore I do not wish to beconfined to any contrivances of this sort, the gist of my inventionresting in the broad idea of the gatheringpocket, which is disposedmidway between the gangs of needles and flush with the bot tom of thepresser-foot.

It will of course be clear that my improvement is not limited at all tothe stitching of tapes or strips upon any goods, and therefore it is notnecessary that the presser-foot be equipped with the guides 3.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a sewing-machine employing a presserfoot and a needle-headcarrying gangs of needles, the Vertically-disposed pocket midway betweenthe sides of the presser-foot and said gangs of needles, the bottom ofsaid pocket being flush with the bottom of the presserfoot, while thepassage-Way afforded by said pocket is plain and unobstructed throughoutits length substantially as set forth.

2. In a sewing-machine, the combination of the presser-foot carrying thevertically-disposed pocket midway between its sides the bottom of saidpocket being flush'with the bottom of the presser-foot, while thepassageway afforded by said pocket is plain and unobstructed throughoutits length the needlehead carrying the gangs of needles each gangadapted to operate through the presser-foot on opposite sides of saidpocket, and means for gathering the goods through which the stitches arepassed within said pocket, substantially as set forth.

3. In a sewing-m achine employing a presserfoot and a needle-headcarrying separate series of needles adapted to effect parallel rows ofstitching, the bell-mouthed vertically-disposed pocket carried by thepresser-foot midway between each series of needles and having its bottomflush with the bottom of the presser-foot whereby when the goods to bestitched through are gathered up within the bell-mouth of said pocketand drawn through the latter by the sewing-machine feed the lines ofstitching of each series of needles will diverge, substantially as setforth.

4. The combination of the needle-head carrying separate gangs ofneedles, the presserfoot, the vertically-disposed pocket supported bysaid foot midway between said gangs of needles .and having its bottomflush with the bottom of the resser-foot and the spring-actuatedhorizontally-disposed tongue extending toward said pocket, substantiallyas set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GIDEON A. CLOSE.

\Vitnesses:

F. W. SMITH, J12, M. I. LONGDEN.

